Digitimes Research: Quark will not be enough for Intel to succeed in wearable or IoT markets

Danny Kuo, DIGITIMES Research, Taipei

Thursday 17 October 2013

Intel unveiled two processors, the Atom E3800 and the Quark SoC X1000 earlier in October, targeting the Internet of things (IoT) and wearable device markets.

Intel's Atom product line was introduced in 2008, designed specifically for entry-level PC products such as netbook and nettops for emerging markets, as well as embedded products like set-top boxes (STBs) and storage systems. Intel unveiled the Quark, its latest CPU product line, in September 2013.

Although Intel has put a lot of effort into technologies (reducing power consumption), marketing (creating new product names), partnership (cooperating with Arduino) and operation (re-opening authorization of circuits) for its new Quark CPUs, Digitimes Research believes the CPU giant is still unlikely to achieve any significant advances in the IoT and wearable device markets.

This is because the Quark processor's power consumption is still high compared to that of competitors and Intel has not touched the micro control unit (MCU) market for many years, Digitimes Research believes that the company will need to re-start developing its CPU technologies as well as come out with a new operation strategy in order to achieve results in those markets.

In 2018, global server shipments will grow 8.5% to reach 13.73 million units. Digitimes Research estimates server shipments worldwide will grow at a CAGR of 6.5% during the period 2017-2022, with growth mainly driven by large-scale data centers and the China market.

Digitimes Research expects global AP shipments to surpass the 1.9 billion mark in 2017, with smartphones remaining the main application. Qualcomm will be leading the market in 2017, as other players continue playing catch up and scramble for funds to invest in more diverse applications.